Corporate social responsibility & students’ perceptions: evidence from Indian higher education institutions [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: For many, the understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) may sound a rather new topic, but it has been pondered upon by great thinkers of the world for many decades. The initial form of CSR was more of philanthropic which has become more of mandatory norm in Indian context. We believe the future of a nation are the youth of the nation and their perceptions on the matter of CSR are of great importance. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to investigate the many viewpoints that students have about CSR and to determine whether or not socioeconomic characteristics (gender, age, professional experience, and academic degree) influence these views. Methods: The research methodology comprises of utilization of an accepted scale (PRESOR) for collecting data of perception on CSR. Data was collected using an online questionnaire, distributed to students at Higher Educational Institutes of Northeast India. Responses from 272 students were received out of which we rejected unengaged responses of 25 students, and we continued with responses from 247 students. We have utilized Factor Analysis, Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), t-test for the scrutinizing the collected data. Results: The perceptions of students show a variety of dimensions, which may be categorised as: (a) value CSR, (b) against CSR, and (c) neutral to CSR. It is also found that the sociodemographic variables have a statistically significant influence on students' notion of CSR. Conclusions: This study is one of the first investigative works that has utilized modified PRESOR model for examining the perception of CSR in Indian context. The model was found to be fit to be used in Indian context. The study concluded that sociodemographic variables such as Age, Education, Professional Experience influences perception of CSR.